The Great Gatsby Brought to Life by ADG Europe at Lycée Michel Lucius

On Friday 28 March 2025, the American Drama Group Europe (ADG Europe) visited Lycée Michel Lucius International School in Luxembourg-Limpertsberg to perform The Great Gatsby.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel received a new stage adaptation by director Leopold Benedict. According to the press release by ADG Europe, "Filled with live and evocative jazz music from the twenties, this production recreates the glitz and decadence of the period. The tense and absorbing drama is played out to its dramatic climax by a cast of five actors – fast-paced, visually evocative and highly theatrical."

At Lycée Michel Lucius International School, the performance was attended by around one hundred spectators who witnessed a evocative interpretation of Fitzgerald's novel, which "graphically portrays a society being destroyed by money and dishonesty, an American dream of happiness and individualism degenerating into the mere pursuit of wealth."

The actors not only portrayed their characters on stage but also interacted with the audience during several of Gatsby's party scenes. They stepped down into the auditorium, asking questions and engaging viewers in brief dialogue.

"It was wonderful. It's great having such a fantastic group of actors to work with — we really feed off each other and offer support. We all band together, and through each other's performances, we're able to lift one another up, I feel. So whether we're performing in a massive theatre or in a school, it's all the same," Andrew Mockler, an English actor and musician who played the role of Tom Buchanan, told Chronicle.lu.

English actor Sonny Pilgrem, who played the lead role of Jay Gatsby, described the main challenge as striking the right balance in Gatsby's ambiguity. "I think the most difficult thing about the role of Gatsby is that he's an enigma, so it's about how obvious - or not obvious - you make the lies. Nick goes through a long journey in the book, saying: 'I think he's great. I think he's a liar. I think he's annoying, he's pissing me off' - excuse my language. And so I think the most difficult part is getting the balance right, because you want to leave Nick, at the end, thinking: 'Through all his flaws, I still love him, and I'll hold him in my heart.' So for me, it's about treading that line," he said.

The role of Nick Carraway — "a young man from Minnesota, who moves to New York in the summer of 1922 and gradually becomes friends with a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby," through whose eyes the story is narrated — was played by Ethan Roberts. "I love it. I really do. But I was saying the other day, it's an absolute privilege. This is hailed as the greatest American novel and I believe that too. So it's a real honour to get out there every day and narrate this beautiful story. Once the lines were learned, the rest was all right. But yes, I really enjoy it - it's wonderful," he remarked after the performance.

His main counterpart in unravelling the plot is Jordan Baker, a friend of the Buchanan family, portrayed by Dutch-American actress Saskia Marguerite. "I think it's really interesting to have characters like Jordan and Nick, who observe the drama unfold while occasionally playing small roles in bringing the others together. These are their friends - people they care about on some level. In the end, watching it all fall apart - something they've, in some way, helped set in motion - is a compelling journey. There's real hope and aspiration at the start that slowly unravels, and in many ways, that mirrors the arc of the novel. It's also just great fun, especially working alongside such wonderful actors," she said.

And finally, the character at the heart of the story's central conflict: Daisy Buchanan — "a wealthy cousin who is already married but who, when reunited with Gatsby, decides to leave her husband. Tragedy inevitably follows." She was portrayed by Lois Baglin, an actress from Cambridge, who shared her thoughts on the character: "I think with Daisy, she wants romance more than anything, and she's not getting that from Tom. So it becomes this battle between fantasy and reality. She also has children at home—she's juggling a lot. I think the whole play is about her coming to a decision that she doesn't really know until the very end."

The next country on ADG Europe's tour with The Great Gatsby will be Germany.